Red Mud
Red Mud, a rather large collection of poetry by Patricia Goodrich (Or maybe just average-sized. I am far too used to chapbooks these days.), is divided into three progressive sections: Clay, Muck Land, and Red Mud. I found that each section built upon the last. Clay had a feeling of a beginning, just as soft mold-able clay might. Here we find poems about amputation and loss–the narrator has lost a leg in an accident. Throughout the book, and quite heavily in this section we see a connection to nature. The first poem, in fact, details roadkill which makes a stark comparison to the narrators own body, her leg being lost in a motorcycle accident. The next section, Muck Land, feels full of a breaking down, as if the clay had too much water added and lost its form. The poems here seem riddled with a certain amount of frustration and anger below the surface. Physical pain often manifests in the subjects of her poems. Finally, the section Red Mud is the light at the end of the tunnel. The narrator seems to have an awakening here. Defying the world around her, she embraces nature. The final poem details how the spirit is freed.
Yet the sections of this book do not follow this scheme of progression easily and simply. In fact, as a reader I was often wondering exactly where the book was going, or how the poems fit together. There was a sense that they all somewhat belonged together, but often several poems in each section stood out as though they didn’t belong. This, coupled with the fact that often her poems felt overly simplistic to me left me wanting more from this collection. The poems often lacked poetic technique, by which I mean careful line breaks, enjambment, plays on words, assonance, dissonance, and a whole host of other things. Reading this book felt very much like eating a well-prepared but under-seasoned stew. No matter how great the ingredients are (and this author certainly covers some fascinating topics) it’ll just come off bland if you don’t add enough spice.
There are several heavy-hitting poems in the collection, however. The first three may have been the book’s strongest, as they deal with the subject of amputation quite beautifully (if subtly). If you’re the kind of reader that enjoys subtle poetry, you might really like this collection. Just because it’s not my cup of tea doesn’t mean it can’t be yours.
And as a final note, I’d like to make just a few comments on the book’s design. Now, I know that many small presses probably can’t really afford to hire a graphics team to do their covers. Still, if you work at a small press, I highly advise devoting a little time to learning about graphic design. Teach yourself how to use photoshop and other tools effectively. I say this, because the cover of this book is beautiful. I love the deep red, almost blood-like image that takes over the front cover of the book. It fits perfectly with the theme and tone of the book. However, this image is completely offset by the fact that the cover text isn’t aligned correctly (it floats too far to the left) and the chosen font for the cover is papyrus (which…is ok, just WAY over-used these days). Like it or not, people do judge books by their covers. They are something to be taken seriously.
Despite the cover, I found the poems in these book to be a little haphazard, and possibly a little vacant. This is certainly not my favorite collection from Virtual Artists Collective, but it was still a decent read.
¶ Discussion (3)
2009, August 21
I think this is a very poorly written review. If a critic is going to say something as damning to a poet as “her poems felt overly simplistic” an example of some lines of poetry doing this ought to be included, in all fairness. The second largest paragraph in this short review is devoted entirely to the cover of the book, and that seems to me to be a cop out. Perhaps that paragraph should have been devoted to how this poetry is “like eating a well-prepared but under-seasoned stew”. I’m sure Julie Hunt knows what she means by that, but I sure don’t. It’s hard enough to sell small press publications in Chicago; the last thing we need is someone trashing poetry with silly academic notions about the definition of “poetic technique”. Virtual Artist Collective and Patricia Goodrich deserve better than this.
2009, August 21
In response to your comment, CJ, I’d like to note that Publish Chicago is highly supportive of all presses in Chicago, including independents such as Virtual Artists Collective. Perhaps you might like my review of their title This is Just to Say better, as it was a bit more positive (check it out here: http://publishchicago.com/2009/07/06/this-is-just-to-say/) I’ll also add that just because not every review we write here at Publish Chicago is positive, it certainly does not mean we aren’t supporting local publishers. All publicity is good publicity. And finally, CJ, if you think my review is inaccurate, I invite you to write a guest review of Red Mud. I’d be happy to post it on the site.
2009, August 21
Thanks for your response.
My objection is not to the review being less than positive, but how vague you are as you point out what you consider to be the flaws of the blook. When you say — “The poems often lacked poetic technique, by which I mean careful line breaks, enjambment, plays on words, assonance, dissonance, and a whole host of other things.” — you are all but saying that the work isn’t even poetry in your opinion. If you are going to say something that damaging to an author’s credibility, you are obligated to give an example or two, perhaps a few line breaks that aren’t “careful” or a few lines that you think could have otherwise “played on words”. There are a lot of different styles of poetry and not all of them utilize assonance. Seems to me what you are saying is that the subject matter is a good one but the poetry is poorly written, and that’s rather harsh.
I haven’t read this book, so I don’t know if I would agree with you or not. What I am saying is that you have expressed your opinions, but you have not backed them up with anything that would convince us one way or the other.
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